An early post
Well earlier than usual, because I want to get to bed before midnight.
The Print edition of Issue 8 is essentially done. It’s edited, formatted, proofread… all that’s missing is 2 biographies which I realized I haven’t gotten. The two contributors have been contacted and with any luck I’ll have those inserted and the issue sent off sometime tomorrow.
By the way, this is the 2nd-longest issue (in terms of word count) we’ve done yet: about 33,400 words. a big part of that is the interviews, which are longer than usual (and there’s 2 of them), but we also have 2 stories over 7,000 words, and that bumped it up. The only issue that was longer was Issue 4 (Crime, about 35,000). Generally our issues hover around 25,000-27,000 words.
I also got some work done on the online edition: I created web pages (hidden from public view for now) for each story, interview and artwork, and began formatting the stories for posting. I figured that the online edition is the most important, since it’s the first version anyone ever sees. (I only do the Print edition first because we need more time to get the proof ordered and delivered.)
Things Not To Do When Submitting: Do not argue that yes, you DID follow the guidelines. If you receive a message from an editor stating that your submission didn’t follow the submission guidelines as explained on the website (especially about firm guidelines like wordcount or genre), don’t reply to tell the editor they’re wrong. The odds are far greater that you misread or misinterpreted the guidelines than that the editor - who may well have written said guidelines - remembered them incorrectly. Remember, editors have applied these guidelines to hundreds or even thousands of submissions prior to yours. Go back and reread them carefully.
Things Not To Forget: Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 23, is Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Day! It’s a day to celebrate SF & F writers. If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a reader, read. If you blog, compose a post about your favorite writer(s) and why you love them. If you can, do it all! Just take a day to truly appreciate all the wonderful worlds and creative characters that SFF writers share with us. (And if you’re so inclined, read a few stories here and leave comments letting the writers know you appreciate them!)
Voting has been fast and furious so far on the Flash Fiction Contest so far, and at this point there are seven of the ten finalists within 4 votes of each other for the lead! Voting goes through the end of the month, so any story could still take the prize! Cast your votes today!
And folks, time is RUNNING OUT to get your Alternate History submissions in! Only eight days left!
Originally published at Crossed Genres. You can comment here or there.